Companies that operate networks provide access to their network to many different customers. These customers generally pay a fee for this access. For example, referring to FIG. 1, a customer 104 resides at dwelling 102. If the customer 104 experiences problems with their network access, resource or asset, customer 104 will contact the company 106. The customer 104's call will be handled by a customer service division 108. The customer service division will record the nature of the problem, and information related to the customer, including the customer's name, address and identification of the network asset allocated to the customer. The customer service division then contacts the dispatch division 110 which then deploys a technician 112.
While the technician 112 is at dwelling 102 repairing the problem reported by customer 104, customer 104 often asks technician 112 about other features and functions of the network. In light of these conversations, customer 104 may decide to modify his existing service and/or purchase additional features and services from company 106.
It is often very difficult or impossible for technician 112 to modify the customer's account information or provide new and additional services for customer 104 since the technician does not have all of the necessary information to properly negotiate with customer 104. Because of these difficulties, technician 112 typically refers customer 104 to the customer service division 108 of company 106. For example, the technician does not know whether customer 104 is past-due on his current bill, whether a particular service is available in the customer's area, or the exact cost for an additional or modified service. Customer 104 contacts the customer service division 108 and the customer service division 108 often refers the call to a sales division 114. Customer 104 then communicates with sales division 114 to modify existing service and to purchase additional features and services from company 106. Sales department 114 then updates the customer's account information on an account database 116.
It is inefficient and problematic that in the present system described above, technician 112 is unable to quickly and easily modify customer 104's service plan. Because technician 112 cannot assist customer 104 in modifying their service plan, customer 104 is forced to conduct a second transaction, which is disadvantageous for many reasons. For example, some customers may simply not want to bother with a second transaction with company 106 and forego the modification to their service, which often results in lost profits for company 106. Further, if customer 104 does contact company 106, the company must expend additional resources to modify the customer's account information. That is, both customer service resources as well as sales resources must be expended to complete this second transaction.